


Pull Me Up From Muddy Waters

by Timion



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Child Abduction, F/F, More characters to be added I think, and also, but mostly mystery, dolls didnt die 2k18, horse, nicole doing police-stuff, romance and mystery, some gore but not explicit, this is Purgatory what did u expect, we'll see lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-05-28 16:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15053423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timion/pseuds/Timion
Summary: Something in Purgatory is targeting young children, and Nicole is desperate to figure out what, come hell or high water.But will she manage to get to the core of this case, without losing herself to its claws?--“So young,” she remarked softly, looking at the page, taking in the pictures of two young boys, and the text that read “7 years of age” and “9 years of age”. She looked up from the page again, at Nedley.“They went missing around half past seven last night, we spoke to their father about any disturbances or such, but there was none that he could think of. Hopefully they’re just lost, wandering around in the forest.” He took a pause, tightening his jaw, becoming even more grim. “But, as we know, Purgatory ain’t the place where you want to be wandering around in the forest too long, lost or not. There’s a lot of shit in this place, Nicole, and I don’t want either of those boys to experience any of it.”





	1. The Father in the House

The sun fell just below the tallest mountain, shifting the world into a hazy twilight, soft and grey, birthing new shadows and taller trees, softer sounds and harsher winds. It was late summer, early fall, with the kind of weather that had some bite. The days were becoming shorter as well, and it was not often that you would see someone out for an evening walk without a light jacket on.

Though Jonas and Michael didn’t seem to mind the weather. They were out in the courtyard, crouching on gravel, and scratching in the dirt with sticks they’d found a bit further into the woods. Their house laid nestled among tall pine trees, almost like giant guardians standing watch, at the outskirts of the town. They’d been out for some time now, and soon they would be called inside for supper, but as of now they were allowed to play outside.

Their father worked as a car mechanic in Purgatory, a well-mannered and kind man, and he himself had inherited their home after his own father. The workings of Purgatory were not unfamiliar to him, so every now and then he would reappear in the kitchen window, brow furrowed in concentration as he gauged the woods around them and the approaching darkness. The darkness in Purgatory didn’t always feel like _just_ darkness, sometimes it felt like more, like a presence or a shroud for an even deeper darkness. When you reach a certain age, you are not able to ignore it anymore.

This evening wasn’t as bad. You could still hear the sounds of birds and water running nearby. You could still separate one tree from another, even when it got darker. You could still hear your children laugh. Isaac could take his time washing the dishes and preparing supper. Tonight, was not a night for worrying, tonight was a night for letting children be children, and forest be forest. He turned away from the window and his sons, and began to put away the dinner plates, whistling a simple tune as he went, confident in his own judgement and the shotgun by the door.

\--

Michael was acting dumb and mean. “No, it’s a cat, not a cockroach!” Jonas could feel his cheeks getting hot, and his eyes stinging with tears. The good mood from before was gone.

“Then why’s it got so many legs then,” asked Michael, not even bothering to look up. He was trying to sketch out a house and a forest, but his brother was distracting him, and the waning daylight made it harder to see the ground. “Not my fault that you don’t know what a cat looks like.”

“I do too! Granny had a cat just like this, I swear!” Jonas puffed out his cheeks, threw his stick on the ground and crossed his arms over his chest. He’d maybe drawn on two or three additional legs to the normal amount of legs for a cat, but not that he’d admit that to his older brother. “And also,” he said, “your forest looks like sheeps, just so you know.”

“It’s _sheep_ , not sheeps, you dummy,” answered Michael, but he dragged his hand over the drawing anyway. He could finish some other day, maybe when his little brother wasn’t as annoying. “By the way, granny’s cat has four legs, not seven.”

“The last one is a tail.”

“Yeah, sure it is.”

Jonas plopped his butt down in the dirt, mindlessly tossing small pebbles around with one dirty hand. Michael sat down himself, although at a slower pace so he wouldn’t topple over. He looked over his shoulder, at the house and his father in the kitchen. “I think supper is ready soon, should we go inside?” He asked, worry building in the back of his mind. He wasn’t used to the approaching dark outside of the house.

“We can wait a bit more, he never let us play this late,” Jonas was now throwing pebbles in the direction of the forest and didn’t seem to be hungry in the least.

A sound came from deeper into the woods, from something way bigger than a pebble thrown by the fist of a seven-year-old, and the boys scrambled to their legs. Jonas moved to clutch at his older brother’s arm, almost pinching him with his fingers. Michael could feel the outline of a single pebble in one of his brother’s hands, pressing against his overarm.  
His heart was beating wildly in his chest, accompanied by a feeling of cold water filling up his legs, followed by the sensation of small, hot pricks. He dared a look over his shoulder, to the house. The distance was much larger now than it was before. He tugged on his brother, and together they took a few stumbling steps backwards. Michael could hear the sound of his brother sniffling, probably crying. He took another, bigger, step towards the house. “Come, Jonas, it’ll be fine. Dad’s inside,” he whispered. Jonas nodded.

There was another sound, closer now. Rustling, and…

Whinnying?

They stopped, standing still in a mix of confusion and dread. The death grip Jonas had on Michaels arm lessened a bit, the pebble he had had in his hand fell to the ground. He dried his tears with a shaky hand. Michael could feel his heart calming down. “Is it… a horse?” He asked out loud, not really expecting an answer.

“Maybe?” Jonas answered nonetheless.

There was some movement again, a flash of colour between the trees. The boys squinted against the dim light, following what looked like a giant of a horse. Only when it came out past the tree line could they really tell how big it was. One hoof would be able to crush their heads as easily as they were able to crush dried up clumps of mud underneath their rain boots. Its fur was shining almost, and blindingly white. The mane was long and flowing, free of any knots or tangles. It had dark eyes, and the muzzle looked incredibly soft. It whinnied again, shaking its head and stomping one of its hooves into the ground.

“Do you think that it’s from one of the farms around here?” Jonas looked at the horse and shrugged.

“Maybe?” He answered. His hand was lax, barely holding onto his brother’s sleeve. “I want to ride it,” he said, before he let go entirely. Michael looked down at him, eyes wide.

“You can’t ride that! You’re way too small, you’ll only hurt yourself.” He took a hold of Jonas’ arm, but his little brother only wrenched himself free.

“No, I won’t!” he shouted over his shoulder, almost running to where the big, white horse stood calmly. It was as if it was waiting for them.

“Jonas, wait up!”

But Jonas wouldn’t listen. Only when he reached the horse did he slow down. “Look, Michael! It won’t hurt us, maybe we can ride it back to where it came from?” Michael frowned, and looked from his brother to the horse, and then back again to his brother.

“I’m not sure…” he said, crossing his arms over his stomach. He would much rather go inside, to his father.

“Please, Mike,” begged Jonas, “just here, in the yard?” He tried his best puppy-dog-eyes, willing his brother to come along.

“Okay, just here in the yard. Then we get dad, okay?” Michael said, making his way over. Jonas nodded eagerly and turned to the horse. It lowered its head, moving its muzzle across Jonas’ face and shoulders, snorting when the boy began to laugh. Michael lost some of his tenseness and didn’t seem as worried as before, relaxing his crossed arms.

Then the horse bowed its front legs, so that the little boy could climb on top. Jonas stroked its shining fur and buried his hands in its mane, giggling at the feeling.

“Come on, Michael! You’re so slow,” he fussed, kicking his heels against the flank of the horse. Michael still seemed unsure, and flinched when the horse turned its head.

 “Just for a short bit, then we’ll head inside,” he assured himself, before he climbed up behind his brother, an unsettling feeling in his stomach. But the horse _was_ very soft and warm, and he didn’t mind it at all when it rose to its full height. Or when neither he nor Jonas could make it turn the way they wanted to, or when they couldn’t make it stop. Or when it took them away from their dad, the house, their yard, and into the deep forest.

\--

Isaac froze, a feeling like dread gathering high in his stomach, his throat. It was quiet. A pressing kind of quiet, the wrong kind. There was no sound of children, of his _sons_. There was no sound at all, only of his beating heart and the ragged breaths escaping his mouth. There had been worry before, there had even been panic before. But not like this.

Not this knowledge that it was too late. It had already happened.

\--

Somewhere, deep in the forest, Michael and Jonas heard the sound of their father calling their names, again and again, heartbreak and fear carrying his voice to them.

But they didn’t mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped u liked the first chapter! I was very excited to write it, and I'm really excited to write the rest of this story as well! And I'm so!!! looking forward to the next season of Wynonna Earp!!!!  
> Please leave a comment or kudos, that would mean a lot! 
> 
> And also, things I had to look up on google translator: if the english language has a word for the special kind of boots you wear when it rains (u do not, u just put "rain" in front of boots), if "prick" actually could be used as a synonym for "sting", and if "horse flank" even is a thing. #Bilingualproblems


	2. There's No Room for Hesitation

Nicole pinched her eyes shut at the sound of her alarm clock and groaned into her pillow. Waverly made a similar sound before she turned on her side to come closer to Nicole, laying her arm over Nicole’s stomach and burrowing deeper under the covers. They’d slept the night at Nicole’s place, something of a rare pleasure, and not something they could make a habit out of since the homestead offered protection unlike Nicole’s house. Nevertheless, occasionally they dared to, just so that they could enjoy the full privacy and tranquillity of just being two girlfriends and a cat.

Speaking of cats, Calamity Jane was meowing like crazy at the door, asking to be let out. The alarm had sounded – it was time for breakfast.

“Just five more minutes, baby, please” groaned Waverly from underneath the comforter. Nicole shook her head and stretched her arms over her head.

“You know I have to get up,” she laughed, before she moved to get out of bed. Waverly’s arm turned to steel and Nicole fell back into the mattress, her body not quite awake yet to fight her off.

“Babyyy, nooo, don’t go. You can skip work today and stay with me… here… in the bed?” Nicole could hear the mischievous smile in her voice and laughed before she turned to kiss Waverly on the forehead, the nose, the lips. She lingered there for a small while, basking in the feeling of another person so close, so _dear_ to her heart.

“You know I can’t,” she answered, voice soft. CJ scratched at the door again and Waverly huffed out a breath, looking up at her through lowered lashes.

“Are you sure I can’t persuade you to stay?” she asked, dragging her fingers through Nicole’s hair, along her scalp. She was resting her weight on one arm, propping herself up. Her long hair fell in soft waves down her neck, her shoulders. It smelled flowery, from her conditioner. Nicole wanted to fall into her arms, wanted to bury herself beneath the blankets with her. She was so in love.

Waverly tugged on her arm, hoisting herself even higher up in the bed, biting her lip. She let the covers fall down to her stomach, making it _very_ hard for Nicole not to look away.

“Oh, I’m _a hundred percent_ sure that you can persuade me to stay. Which is why I gotta go right now,” she said, kissing her on the mouth quick as lightning and almost jumping up from the bed. Waverly let her arm collapse beneath her, laying there in a grumpy lump of defeat, only her head sticking up from the covers. Nicole let CJ out of the bedroom, before she went to her closet to get dressed.

“You know, if you want I could drive you to the homestead before work? But then you have to get dressed now, baby,” she said over her shoulder, stepping into her pants. Waverly huffed again, and Nicole rolled her eyes, before she walked over and kissed her on her head.

“Anyway, I’m making coffee, enough for you too, if you ever make it out of bed,” she said, shrugging her shirt on over her shoulders. She grabbed a couple of hair pins to pin back her hair, and her hat from the dresser. Waverly moved a bit in the bed when she opened the window curtains, so Nicole would probably see her downstairs in a few minutes.

She grabbed her phone, fully charged, and her wristwatch before she made her way to the kitchen. The house was quiet, but light. Brown wooden floors and light green walls, not really her style, but she’d gotten used to it. With all of the shit going down in Purgatory there hadn’t really been time to paint the walls another colour, but it was definitely on her bucket list. The house wasn’t that old, so there were minimal sounds or creaking, but rather the worn comfort of used carpets and worn-down flooring. It did feel like a home, especially now that she got to share it with Waverly on a regular basis.

Nicole started the coffee machine, before she filled Calamity Jane’s bowl with more cat food, watching the ginger cat eat for a moment or two before she got to making her own breakfast. Waverly came plodding in a few minutes later, clothes on and hair semi-braided down her back. Nicole grabbed the coffee pot and poured Waverly a cup. She got a smile and a kiss for her efforts, a very sweet payment for her deeds.

“Oh, lovely, lovely, heavenly coffee. How I’ve missed you,” Waverly said in a singsong voice, plopping down in the nearest chair. Nicole laughed, and sipped her own coffee, joy bubbling in her chest. Everything had been so good lately, so easy. No major accidents at work, or ghostly-demony-business going down. It was almost possible to forget that Purgatory was a hot spot for trouble. Maybe she really would get around to painting the house sometime soon. She finished her piece of toast, a bit lost in thought for a while, before she cleared her throat.  

“Hey, we’re still on for date-night this Friday, right?” she asked, setting down her coffee cup. Waverly moved her own cup away from her mouth and nodded.

“Of course we are! I wouldn’t let the end of the world get in the way of date-night!” she exclaimed, clenching her fist and raising it high in mock anger, shaking it at the sky, or rather the ceiling. Nicole laughed, and raised an eyebrow.

“Careful now, we don’t want to jinx it,” she said, moving to collect Waverly’s cup. She leaned in close, close enough to kiss her slow and deep. Keeping Waverly sandwiched between her body and the chair, she moved her arm, laying her hand against Waverly’s neck, crowding in even closer. There was only the feeling of lips against lips, the gentle give and take from familiar lovers. Closed eyes and fluttering lashes, noses bumping into each other and the tips of Nicole’s short hair brushing against Waverly’s cheeks. Nicole let her fingers trail down from the back of the chair, over Waverly’s shoulder and down to the hem of her shirt. She tugged on it, hiking it up a bit, moving her fingers to clench against Waverly’s waist.

She let it stay there, the promise of something more, something deeper, something more satisfying. The she moved away, taking the cup in the process, looking over her shoulder with a sly glance at Waverly, who looked totally ravished, mouth half open and bright pink. Her eyes wide open, and her hands still in the position they had been not two seconds ago, at the height of Nicole’s waist.  

“Wah..?” she said, confusion colouring her voice.

“ _That_ ,” said Nicole, “was payback for earlier this morning.”

 

\--

 

Nedley came at her the moment she stepped through the door at the police station. She’d had time to drive Waverly to the homestead before she had to clock in, so her not being on time didn’t seem likely, but she still had to check her wristwatch to be sure.

Nedley slowed his brisk pace when he reached her, mouth set in a grave line and the wrinkles around his eyes more pronounced than they had been in a while, his brows dark and heavy over his eyes. Nicole took in his haggard appearance and immediately felt some of the morning’s good mood melt away to apprehension.

“What’s wrong,” she asked, scanning his face, before looking around the station. Nedley didn’t say anything, just gave her the case file he had in his hand. Nicole knit her brows, and sent a questioning glance at him, before she took it and flipped it open. Nedley cleared his throat and pursed his lips.

“There’s two kids who have gone missing, yesterday evening,” he finally said. Nicole furrowed her eyebrows in concentration as she read, scanning the page in front of her with her eyes.

“So young,” she remarked softly, looking at the page, taking in the pictures of two young boys, and the text that read “ _7 yrs of age_ ” and “ _9 yrs of age_ ”. She looked up from the page again, at Nedley, who nodded.

“So, what do we have?” she asked, “are they lost? Do we think that someone has taken them?” Nedley shook his head, before he removed his hat to smooth back his hair. He put his hat on again and pointed to the file.

“They went missing around half past seven last night, we spoke to their father about any disturbances or such, but there was none that he could think of. Hopefully they’re just lost, wandering around in the forest.” He took a pause, tightening his jaw, becoming even more grim. “But, as we know, Purgatory ain’t the place where you want to be wandering around in the forest too long, lost or not. There’s a lot of shit in this place, Nicole, and I don’t want either of those boys to experience any of it.”

Nicole wholeheartedly agreed. There were things she had experienced in this town that she wouldn’t wish on anybody, least of all two young children.

“Do we have a search party out already?” she asked.

“We do, but I want someone responsible to lead this case, and it doesn’t hurt that you’re buddies with the Black Badge Department we have here,” Nedley said, “I want you on this case, Nicole. Think you can handle it?” he asked.

Nicole looked down at the file in her hand, containing only one page of information and the faces of two young boys.

“Yeah, I’ll handle it,” she said, already moving. It was time to get to work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank u so much for reading!!! Really hoped you liked this chapter! I will probably revisit this some time, cause there's some things that i want to fix a bit, but i think i'll post this for now.  
> And also, i'm leaving for two weeks, so there might be a longer waiting time for the next chapter, but i'll try to write as much as i can! ily <3  
> please leave kudos or comments if u enjoyed the chapter! :D


	3. Nicole Acquiers a Lead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got to post a new chapter! It was not supposed to take so long, but I did travel to a place with no wifi (or power lol) for two weeks, and then I was home for like 3 days, before I was away for an additional 10 days, so not a lot of free time!! But I'm back!! and already working on chapter 4 wooohooo  
> I hope you like this chapter, it's brought to you by Seven Hours in a Car & Joint pain lol

Her breath hung before her like fine mist, and the air stung her cheeks as she walked through the forest. Fine droplets of dew decorated the lichen and the moss that clung to the trees around her, and everywhere she turned only colours of deep green, emerald, and earthy brown greeted her. She looked for signs of struggles, of movement like walking or running, of anything a child might leave behind. But nothing.

Nicole sucked in a deep breath, dragged her hair away from her forehead, and exhaled. The trees around her stayed silent, though she wished they would tell her what they knew. There had been another one, a young girl this time, seemingly evaporating into thin air. The mother was devastated, the father inconsolable, and Nicole without any leads at all.

Three children gone, with less than nine days between the disappearances. All under the age of 11. All gone late afternoon or early evening. Nicole scoured the trees around her, then the dew-covered ground yet another time, all while walking slowly. The forest around her was flourishing. Flowers dotted the underground, not yet pried open by the early morning sun. Everything was green and felt strong, the moss was soft and spongy, the trees heavy with pinecones, the air filled with animal sounds and bird chirps. In all her time living in Purgatory she’d never seen the forest as full of life as now, as thriving as now. She’d even seen horse tracks from wild horses further back in the forest.

Her phone beeped, and she fished it out of her pocket, straightening up from her semi-crouched position. It was a text from Waverly, asking for an update on the situation.

Waverly<3 **: Found anything?**

Me: _No, not yet. Nothing but forest anyway_

Nicole sighed again, before she put her phone back in her pocket. She stepped over another trail of horse tracks, before she stopped, hesitated, then moved a step back. She’d seen horse tracks closer to the missing girl’s house, but she’d assumed it was one of many. Wild horses in the woods wasn’t something new, but looking down at the tracks now, she could clearly see that there was only one horse.

 _What if…?_  

She’d gotten lucky, catching sight of it. The only reason that she had, she figured, was because there was a section of mud, and not moss. The section was only a few feet in diameter, before transitioning into moss and firmer ground again. With the moss being so spongy as it was, it wasn’t strange that the tracks disappeared completely. She tried following the markings, but came up short. They vanished completely against the moss, and no underbrush or broken twigs could point her in the right direction.

Nicole got her camera ready and snapped a few shots of the tracks that were visible. Judging by the sheer size of the horse tracks and the distance between each of them, it was safe to say that the horse, or rather, the rider hadn’t been in any hurry. She couldn’t say for sure, but if there were similar tracks closer to the house she was investigating now, and the place the other boys had disappeared from, then she might actually have a lead.

Nicole tucked the camera away, before she checked her phone. Waverly had sent another text, wishing her good luck. Nicole smiled before she typed out a fast reply.

Me: _I think I might’ve found something after all_

She locked the screen, before she quickened her pace to a light jog back to the house. She wanted everyone to search for horse tracks, ASAP.

 --

_It was cold, and dark, and constricting, a heavy weight both lifting and dragging down. Water. All around, inside, outside. The feeling of being so encapsulated by water that it almost feels like you’re flying. That you feel weightless and enfolded in nothing. There were no currents, no waves or wind to disturb. Michael was in the water. Tough it didn’t feel like he was._

_Michael was dying. Dead. Gone. Though it didn’t feel like he was.  
His eyes were open. Or maybe not. He couldn’t tell. He could see Jonas with his closed-open eyes. Jonas was dead. Something was eating him, slowly. Michael could hear it. The tearing, the squelching, the chewing. The swallowing. He could hear it through the water, almost as if the sounds were directly transmitted into his brain. He could hear everything. _

_Jonas’ head was floating limply, moving from side to side. He looked very small. His legs were gone, and his stomach was open wide, and very red. Michael didn’t want to see, but he couldn’t not see. He had to – something was making him. The thing that was eating Jonas moved like seaweed and was covered in dark green leaves. Its eyes glowed dimly. It had very small hands, almost like a child. Hands with tiny, blunt fingernails that were plucking, plucking, plucking on his brother’s flesh._

_Michael wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. To vomit. To claw his way up from this place.  But he was unable, in this living-dead condition. He hoped that Jonas was at peace now, that he was in heaven, miles upon miles away from this place, this dark lake of blood and flesh and two small boys and a monster._

_And then Jonas opened his eyes. His own eyes, brown, like their father’s eyes._

_And all Michael could think wa_ s, Oh.  

 --

Nicole moved briskly through the station, her phone and case file in one hand, and her lunch in the other. She’d scanned the ground around the house where the missing girl disappeared and had found horse markings there as well. Her stomach was telling her that this should be something to follow up on, and she’d already called a contact to make her check up on the wild horse sightings, in case that it was just a fluke. But she didn’t think it was. And now she was going to check the photos from the first disappearance site in case that there was something she’d missed. And then she would go there to investigate herself. But first she needed to eat and recharge.

Dolls came out of his office just as she was swallowing the last bite of her sandwich, and she quickly waved him over. He arched a brow, before he looked around in the office, and came over.

“What’s up, Haught?” He asked, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“Look, I know that this probably isn’t a BBD case, or at least not yet, but I was wondering if you could take a look at any of these photos? Check if you see or notice anything strange?” When he took some time to answer, she quickly added, “three kids have gone missing, and I really need a new pair of eyes to see if I missed anything.”

“Yes, of course,” he said, hunching over to look at the photos. She had tried to find something fresh, anything undiscovered, but there was nothing. She watched as Dolls carefully leafed through the pictures, trying to find any supernatural details or hints. A few minutes of Nicole looking at Dolls looking at pictures went by, before he straightened up with a huff and shook his head.

“Nothing supernatural as far as I can see. You could try to run it by Jeremy? Make him do his photo-magic? I don’t know what else you could do,” he said, shrugging. Nicole shook her head, before she twisted her mouth up thoughtfully.

“Nah, I mean, I _could_ , but I don’t actually feel like this is a supernatural case… It feels more like a regular one, an awful one, yes, but a regular one,” she said, looking at the crime scene photos. Dolls nodded and smiled with closed lips.

“If that’s your hunch, then go for it,” he said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. Nicole looked up and flashed him a smile.

“Thanks,” she said. Dolls smiled wider this time and squeezed her shoulder before letting go. He looked down at the pictures again before he picked up a picture of a young girl, smiling at the camera.

“When did you say that the children went missing again?” he asked, laying the picture down on her desk again. Nicole smiled thinly, shaking her head.

“I didn’t say,” she said, before she continued with “the girl disappeared last evening, the boys…. About eight days ago.” She let her words hang in the air between them, already knowing what would come. Dolls sucked in a breath and looked at her with wide eyes.

“Eight days? Surely you must know that-”

“Yes, yes, I know! I know the chances of finding them alive is slim to none, but I just-” she shook her head and threw her hands up in the air wildly, before she wilted down, dropping her head onto the palm of her hand. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I don’t really have a feasible lead, and these are _kids_ , Dolls! They rely on adults, on someone to fix situations, to _help_ them when they need help, but I’ve gotten nowhere! It’s just so damn frustrating, I hate it,” she exclaimed, still with her head in her hand.

“Hey, Nicole,” Dolls said, crouching down on her level and levering her with a serious look. “You’re doing _everything_ in your power to find these kids, okay? Whether or not it pays off, no one can say that you haven’t done your utmost best. You’re a great cop, there’s a reason you got this case.”

“Yeah, it just feels so damn impossible,” she sighed. Then she straightened up, nodded resolutely, got up from her chair and began to gather up all the photos and placing them in the file again. She tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded again. She had to focus on focusing, on staying determined and resolute on this case, she couldn’t give up or pity herself when there was a child relying on her.

“Thanks for the pep-talk, Dolls. I really appreciate it, follow you outside?” She asked, gathering her file against her chest, shrugging her bag onto one shoulder and grabbing her jacket from the back of the chair.

“Yeah, sure. Where you headed?” He answered, putting his hands back into the pockets of his jacket, inclining with a simple nod that Nicole could take the lead, before he followed her outside.

“I’m going back to the first crime scene to see if I can find any similarities between the first and the second disappearance location. I’m primarily looking for horse tracks, and since there was no rain this or the last week it should be possible to see if we missed something… I hope,” she explained, holding the door open for him.

“I see, well, I really hope that you find what you’re looking for,” he said, before moving to his car. Nicole watched as he opened the door and entered the car.

“Where are you headed, by the way? I never asked,” she laughed. Dolls smiled and shrugged.

“I’m on a coffee run,” he said with a smile. “No pressing matters today, and goddamn! It feels good!” he exclaimed with a smug smile, though Nicole couldn’t detect any hint of mocking. She smiled, a bit envious. She watched as he closed the door, and drove off, before she too made her way to her own vehicle.

Nicole looked down at what she thought looked _kinda_ similar to a horse track, especially if you turned your head a bit to the side and squinted carefully. So, it probably wasn’t something an actual horse had left behind.

She moved a bit to the left, crouched low on the tip of her toes, and continued to scan the ground in front of her. Branches, pebbles, earth and sand, but no sign of a horse ever being there. If she was lucky, she might find something further into the woods, like she did at the little girl’s house. The woods were just as alive here as they had been the other place earlier today. Everything was lush, and flourishing, and the leaves on the trees simply _gleamed_ in the sun.

She’d already had another conversation with Mr. Locket about the disappearances of his sons, and if he’d seen something not unusual or suspicious, but rather something not that out of the ordinary, a usual occurrence or something it wouldn’t be weird to gloss over. But no, he couldn’t say. The strangest thing about that day, he mentioned, was that there was no sense of danger, no foreboding feeling. It was as if everything got put on hold that day, as if the world took a break. And then, when my boys disappeared, it was as if reality snapped back into place, as if there never was a time when Purgatory didn’t act like Purgatory. But I remember, he finished, that that day didn’t feel like a usual day in Purgatory, not until after.

Nicole moved into the woods, lifting her legs high over fallen tree trunks and ducking under low-hanging branches. Here and there branches or thorns snagged at her clothes or her hair, and scratched at her hands and cheeks. She kept her eyes on the ground and the underbrush, trying to separate the different shapes from each other, in hopes that something might turn out to be what she was looking for.

The trees turned taller and taller on each side of her, growing closer and closer until it felt like she had walls on either side of her, and though the sun did try to push through to the ground, it didn’t entirely succeed. The forest around Nicole turned darker, yet when she looked up she could clearly see the blue sky encircled by the top of the trees, looking like spears poking holes in the fabric of the universe.

She leaned back against the trunk of the nearest tree, breathing deep. She’d been at it for a while now, but nothing had turned up. She might as well make her way back to the house, as she didn’t think there was much left for her to see, and the absence of sunlight did not make it any easier to search.

Nicole pushed away from the tree, and turned on her heel, planning on going back the way she came from. Then she froze, standing completely still.

She’d seen something, in the corner of her eye. A flash of movement, of something fast and small. Of a person, a child?

Slowly, slowly, she turned in a circle, scanning every gap, every shadow for what she thought she saw.

One minute, two minutes. She relaxed. Letting her breath out in a great _whoosh_. She should head back, before this forest decided to mess anymore with her head like it had done now, turning what was probably only a deer into a child.

And if she felt eyes drilling into her back the whole trip out of the forest, then that was only her paranoia taking itself some liberties.


	4. The Day After

Someone’s shouting, crying out for help. Nicole stumbles out of bed, tangled in her own sheets. Waverly makes a noise of confusion, looking up at her from underneath the tousled mess of her hair. “Baby, what’s wrong?” She asks, sleep clouding her face and voice. Nicole just shakes her head, there’s no time to explain, someone needs help.

“I gotta go,” she says, the words out of her mouth faster than she could think them. She has to go right now, she has to help someone.

She’s outside Shorty’s. She got her gun in one hand, her phone in another. People are running around, screaming. Black shadow encased creatures are grabbing people one by one, swallowing them whole.

“Oh no,” says Nicole, and shoots one. It doesn’t die. “Oh, double no,” says Nicole. They’re _eating_ people’s _faces_. It’s so strange. But Nicole can’t linger, or she’ll be eaten as well, so she stuffs her gun inside her right sock, and makes a run for it to the forest.

It doesn’t take long before she’s at the edge of the forest, and she’s not alone. Waverly is panting beside her, cheeks red from running. “Honestly,” she says, “what are you doing, Nicole?” Her eyebrows are scrunched up, and she looks completely bewildered. Nicole looks at her, wondering how she could say something so stupid, when it was obvious what she was doing.

“I’m running away, because I don’t want to get eaten!” she exclaims.

“Eaten?” Waverly asks, quite loud, caught off guard. “Eaten by _what?_ ” She spins around in a circle, her arms wide and her hair loose. She’s wearing her white parka and her fuzzy earmuffs. There’s snow on the ground. Everything is quiet, except for the crunching of their boots on the freshly fallen snow. The forest stands like a solid wall, protruding high into the white sky, and the sun is nowhere to be seen, hidden behind a thick layer of clouds that stretch as far as the sky is wide, mirroring the snow-covered ground, making the world seem smaller, crushed down. Nicole isn’t freezing, standing there in her boots and her sweatpants and the thinnest wool-sweater she owns, it’s as if the world can’t touch her, as if she’s disconnected from feeling the wind and the coldness and the atmosphere. It’s _so quiet_.

“What are you running from?” Waverly’s voice is low, tentative. Nicole can’t see her, she stands behind her. There’s a bird of prey circling up and away from the forest, Nicole can barely see it above the enormous trees, but it’s hunting, that she can tell. Nicole turns around to face Waverly.

“I don’t run, you know that,” she says, but Waverly is gone. There’s only the forest and Nicole standing in front of it, in the snow and the water. And there’s water, trickling out between the trunks of the trees, forming small streams, cold to the touch and crystal clear. It runs over her boots and licks at her shins, turning her clothes wet. The streams turn to small rivers, and now the water is reaching her knees and climbing higher every moment. She has to push against the force of the currents trying to drag her away, almost clawing at her like small hands, taking a hold of her clothes and pulling. There was movement from the forest, an enormous shadow rising high, towering over her, over the trees. Water. The biggest wave she’d ever seen, headed right for her.

Nicole pulled at her feet, trying to free them from the mud, desperately clawing at the mud and the silt her feet were buried in, casting frantic glances up at the approaching body of water, coming at her like a rabid dog, foam at the mouth. And someone carried by the great wave, a small child, with a serious face and wide, unblinking eyes. It looked like a boy, maybe twelve years old, with fair skin and curls the same colour as golden grain. He looked down at her, where she stood fighting against the currents and losing.

“You have to turn back,” the boy pleaded. His voice was soft, and his eyes impossibly wide, and he sounded frightened. “Please, you _have_ to turn back,” he said, as the wave grew taller and taller, bigger and bigger. Nicole wanted to answer, wanted to reassure him that he would be fine, that she would help him, but she couldn’t because the water was too high, and her boots were still stuck in the mud. She opened her mouth, and went under.

 

And then she opens her eyes, in her own bed. She breathes deep, before she lets out a long-drawn sigh, throwing her forearm over her eyes.

“Oh jeez,” she whispers, dragging in another lungful of air. Waverly moves beside her, turning towards her.

“You okay?” she asks. “Bad dream? You were twitching a lot.” She strokes her fingers up Nicole’s upper arm, circling her shoulder, and then down her arm again. Nicole removes her arm from her eyes, and shuffles over in the bed so that she’s facing Waverly as well.

“I guess, I think so,” she says, her eyes staring off in the distance as she scrapes her brain for details about the dream. “I don’t remember much, but I think I dreamt about one of the little boys who got kidnapped…. I don’t know, can’t remember.”

“Oh, that’s no fun,” Waverly says, propping herself up on an elbow so that she can see directly into Nicole’s face. Her brows are scrunched up in the most adorable way, and she looks concerned. “But I thought that they were just lost?”

“It’s been too long for them just to be lost, wandering in the woods. There is something else behind it, and I am positive that the horse tracks I spotted at the second disappearance site also appeared at the first one. I was just stupid enough to miss it.” Nicole can’t curb the bitterness staining her voice, even though she tries. She _should_ have spotted it, if she had done her work as an officer thoroughly enough. But she hadn’t.

“No, baby, don’t say that. You’re working twice as hard as anyone in this city trying to figure this out! And you can’t push yourself to do your utmost best at all times, no one can do a 100 percent at all times without crashing at some point. You have to take care of yourself, or you’ll end up like a sad, tired version of – I don’t know – Nedley? I don’t want that,” Waverly finishes with a pout, and Nicole has to laugh.

“Okay, okay, I promise I won’t end up like a ‘sad and tired’ version of Nedley, as you so nicely put it,” she jokes, poking Waverly on the nose, making her eyes cross as they try to follow her finger. She smiles, her eyes wrinkling at the corners and the faintest shadow of a dimple showing, and Nicole can feel her heart melting like soft butter in the summer sun.

“You’re phenomenal, you know that?” she says, softly, gazing up at her. “You’re amazing, astounding, and I love you so much.” Waverly doesn’t answer, just moves close enough to kiss Nicole, again and again.

“I love you too, so much,” she says, before she kisses Nicole yet again. Soft and deep, as if they’ve spent their whole lives learning to kiss each other, to love each other. It certainly feels that way, sometimes. Other times it feels entirely new, unfamiliar and clumsy almost. Like infatuated young friends breaching the line between friendship and love for the first time. 

Despite the fact that Nicole hadn’t been able to find any horse tracks when she went looking yesterday, she was still sure that the horse had to be the connecting link between the kidnappings, but turning that hunch into something real she could bring to the worktable proved harder than she thought. And she wasn’t particularly keen on going back to the forest, especially after the strange encounter and the creepy feeling she still could feel the remnants of, clinging to her like sticky cobwebs. 

And really? What was it with the woods around here being perpetually creepy and off-putting? There was always _something_ , be it revenants or other creepy creatures out for blood, or revenge, or the resurrection of a big and bad evil demon. Nicole, to be quite honest, was growing rather tired of the old scheme of evil being played on repeat over and over again to the same old tune of despair. Growing tired of the feeling that a part of her never switched off, never rested, but had to stay alert and in control of the situation at all costs.

Though there was a sanctuary for her, an oasis where she could rest and feel secure, where she could unwind and calm down – Waverly. Waverly which lay beside her in the bed, tapping away at the screen of her phone with great focus and precision. Nicole craned her neck sideways to catch a glimpse at what she was doing that she needed to concentrate that highly on. It was Gardenscapes. Nicole smothered a snort of amusement and rolled her eyes fondly, shaking her head when Waverly glanced up from her phone with a questioning look on her face. “You’re cute,” Nicole smiled to her, and Waverly smiled back before laying her phone down.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked, turning on her side and tucking some of her hair behind her ear. Nicole shook her head again, falling over on her back and looking up at the ceiling, her eyes finding corners where paint had flaked off in small pieces. She shrugged her shoulders as best she could while lying down.

“I’m not thinking about anything special… I guess the case still is on my mind, and it’s bugging me,” she answered, turning her head towards Waverly. Waverly gave her a tiny smile, and laid a hand softly against Nicole’s cheek, rubbing her thumb up and down near the corner of her mouth. Nicole kissed her thumb and smiled.

“Do you think that it’s something out of the ordinary going on? I mean, it’s been so quiet with everything lately, and by “everything” I mean the demons and the revenants of course, but do you maybe think that there’s something more in the works here?” She asked, giving Nicole a concerned look. “Because me and Jeremy are pretty good research-machines, and I would gladly help you, baby. So, if you think that this is some demon-y, revenant-y business I could text him right away? See if he’s busy, and if not, do some investigating?”

Nicole gathered her in her arms, moving their bodies as close together as possible, thinking about how lucky she was. “You’re so cute, you know that? And you’ll be the first one I’ll go to if I feel as if something supernatural is going on, okay?” She said, speaking to the top of Waverly’s head, crushing her close. Waverly made a fake wheezing noise, and mock punched her.

“You’re squeezing me too hard, let go!” she laughed, pinching Nicole in the stomach and fighting to get free.

“I will never!” Nicole answered, kissing the top of her head and her face, everywhere she could reach, while ducking away from stray elbows and flailing arms. If only for five minutes, she forgot the dream she’d had, and her worries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fought a bit with this chapter, but now it's finally published!!   
> Also, does anyone know what's up with AO3 showing the wrong amount of words? Because I've written more than what AO3 displays.   
> Also also, would it be better if I wrote shorter chapters and published more often, or are you guys willing to wait for 2000-2500 word chapters? if i were to write shorter chapters there would also be a higher number of chapters than if i write longer. Idk, would like to hear your input!   
> Thanks so much for reading, please leave a comment if u enjoyed <3 i love reading them


	5. Let's Go to the Forest Again

Marie Anne watched her daughter from the comfort of her recliner, the tv humming faintly in the background, a quiz show airing – now and then bursts of laughter could be heard from the audience –, but not one she was more than mildly interested in watching. She’d been at work the entire day, standing on her feet for seven hours, so when she finally got home she’d fallen into the chair with a satisfied sigh, feeling her bones melt into the soft cushions. In a while, when her husband would come home with the groceries, they’d begin preparing dinner, but for now there was only Marie Anne and Louisa and the family dog snoring softly on the floor.

The sliding door was open, facing the porch and the yard, letting in hints of fresh and chilly air and the smell of slightly dewy grass. Marie Anne absolutely loved fall, she loved the fog and the leaves turning yellow and brown and she loved the atmosphere. She felt particularly adventurous when the summer season transitioned into fall, when the days became shorter and colder and the evenings longer and darker. She’d always felt that way, and Purgatory amplified that feeling, with the tall mountains caging them in and the forests stretching out, reaching for the horizon on pure will, growing further and further each year.

Louisa was outside, practising her cartwheels on the soft grass, her pants stained green from all the tumbles she’d taken to the ground, and her cheeks red from exercising and the slightly chilled fall air. Now and then she called out to her mother to make her watch as she showed what she’d learned, and every time Marie Anne made sure to give her applause and to encourage her. “Do it again, sweetheart!” she called, pushing herself up from her recliner and walking out to the porch railing, leaning against it with her forearms.

Luci woke up from her nap on the floor, stretching and yawning wide, displaying her teeth, before shaking her fur and padding out to where Marie Anne stood. She sniffed at her clothes, and leaned her head into Marie Anne’s hip, looking up at her and begging for treats. Marie Anne scratched her behind her ears, before gently pushing her away. Luci huffed, but moved nonetheless to lay down on the top of the stairs leading down to the ground.

Louisa cried out, making both Luci and Marie Anne’s heads look up. Louisa stood straight, pointing at something. “Mom, look!” she shouted, thrilled. Marie Anne followed her finger to where she was pointing, squinting a bit as she had left her glasses by the salon table, but still able to make out the big horse trotting slow and steady, carefully making its way to the yard.

Luci made a low sound, deep in her throat, and moved to stand up. Marie Anne shushed her, but moved as well, when she saw that the horse didn’t intend to stop, but moved closer and closer to the house. She figured that it had its eyes on the grass growing nearer to the house, and that it must’ve escaped from one of the farms nearby, since it didn’t shy away from populated areas… Though any horse hungry enough would’ve made the risk, but since the forest was _right there_ she figured that this horse maybe was a bit dumb, going out of its way to greet humans when there’s lots of food out of people’s way. Marie Anne made her way down the porch stairs, calling out for Louisa, when the horse stopped moving, and swivelled its head to look straight at her. It looked almost surprised, as if it hadn’t seen her.

“Louisa, darling, come here,” Marie Anne walked closer when her daughter didn’t listen, but chose instead to approach the horse. “ _Louisa,_ I swear to _God_ , do not touch that horse,” Luci was still standing on the porch, growling louder the closer Louisa walked, and Marie Anne wholeheartedly agreed. If her daughter as much as touched that horse when she said that she shouldn’t, then she was in for a lecture about safety and listening to what your mother said you should listen to. The horse moved closer to Louisa, who again moved closer to the horse. Marie Anne stopped, planted her hands on her hips, and said in the sternest voice she could muster.

“Louisa, do _not_ make me drag you away from that horse.”

A few things happened all at once.

Louisa stopped, finally, a few meters away from the horse.

Luci barked loudly, baring her teeth, her lips curling back and away and her fur bristling.

The horse reared back with a whinny, kicking its front legs out and shaking its head, its ears lying flat back against its bulging neck. It was almost as if a switch had flicked on, turning the horse from docile and curious into a furious beast. Its eyes rolled and spit foamed at the corners of its mouth. Marie Anne ran the few last steps to her daughter, catching a hold of her hand and dragging her away from it, and way out of reach of one of its hooves. The horse reared once again, before it turned abruptly and galloped away, disappearing in the woods in a matter of seconds.

Marie Anne stood still, her chest moving up and down as she tried to catch her breath. Louisa clutched at her hand, and was pressed into her side. She didn’t say anything, and for a while there was complete silence. Then Luci huffed and laid down again, her face in the direction that the horse had disappeared. Marie Anne breathed out one final time, before she placed her hand on Louisa’s shoulder and steered her towards the house. “Come, let’s go inside and make hot chocolate. Dad will be home any minute,” she said, walking up the stairs and inside, checking if Luci wanted to come with them as well, before closing the sliding door firmly.

 

Nicole sat by one of the tables in the bustling coffee shop, immersed in the report she’d gotten from the wildlife expert about wild horse sightings, and from what she’d read already, she could confirm that there had not been any sightings so close to Purgatory that it could possibly have been a wild horse that she’d seen the tracks of. The coffee shop she was at was located in Purgatory centre, nestled between small stores and other cafés, not too far away from the police station. It was decorated with that popular rustic style, with lots of dark wood, copper details and brick like design on the walls, and the main crowd seemed to be a bit older than her own age by a few years. 

She sipped her coffee, keeping an ear out for the small talk going on around her, noticing the familiar faces in the crowd, smiling and waving if it was appropriate. But mostly she read, and tried to relax. This was her coffee break, and she wanted to make the most out of it, taking Waverly’s advice about not working herself to the bone. She smiled into the rim of her coffee cup, thinking about her girlfriend, before a very boisterous conversation to her right distracted her.

She turned slightly, interested by their conversation. A group of women, presumably on their own break, sat by one of the larger tables in the centre of the room, talking passionately about something or another, one woman in particular leading the conversation. It seemed very dramatic, and Nicole’s interest was piqued, so she shamelessly eavesdropped, now and then sipping her coffee and turning a page of the report so that it wouldn’t seem too obvious that she was listening.

“It was so strange, you know? It appeared out of nowhere! Looked like it was headed right for the house,” the lady in charge of the conversation said, and then continued after all the chatter had quieted down. “Frankly, I didn’t know what to do, it was so big, _gigantic_ , I say,” she followed up with, “even Luci, got her teeth on edge. I’ve never seen her so upset, very unlike her. She started barking, at the end, right when the horse was about to leave.” Nicole frowned, and put her cup down, listening even closer than before.

“Really?” another woman asked, sounding surprised. “That’s very unlike her.”

“I know!” the first woman answered, spreading her hands wide. “I think that she was trying to protect Louisa, but it still seemed strange to me, because the horse was calm right until the end. I don’t know, maybe it’s because she’s growing old, or maybe it’s because she’s never seen a horse before. But still, strange.” She shook her head, then shrugged. “I get why she barked at the end, though, we all got very frightened by it, when it got angry. It almost screamed, if horses can scream, and it reared up! I’ve never seen a horse do that, except for in the movies. Was afraid that Louisa would be hit, that stupid little girl.”

“Stupid?”

“Yes! I told her again and again to move away from it, but she wouldn’t listen! At all!  It wasn’t before I said that I would drag her away myself that she listened to me, silly little thing. But she’s okay, thank the heavens.”

Nicole stopped listening when that seemed to be the end of that particular topic. A big, or rather, gigantic horse coming out of nowhere, walking straight towards the house, making both people and other animals uneasy? And a daughter that didn’t want to listen… at all? Would it be too far fetched to look into this, or should she run with it? It was after all Purgatory… but when would that excuse run out? When will she actually have to rely on proper police-investigating instead of just writing everything off as “supernatural” or “demon-business”? Had she become too reliant on the ever-replenishing inventory of demons and trauma-causing shit that this place was overflowing with, that whenever something bad happened, it _had_ to be demons?

Nicole rubbed at her forehead, before pushing the palms of her hands into her eye sockets, keeping them there until weird squiggles of colour appeared in her vision, damning everything to hell and back. Why couldn’t something for once be _easy_? But to be fair, she chose this profession herself, so she was aware of what she signed up for. She just didn’t think that she would get murderers and horrid massacres with a side dish of demons. However, she was stuck in it now, so she better suck it up and stop feeling sorry for herself, she was Nicole Haught for goodness sake.

And if this was a supernatural case, where would she start looking? Nicole placed the report back in its plastic folder before putting on her jacket and grabbing her hat with the same hand as her folder, walking out of the coffee shop and to her cruiser. She opened the car and put her stuff on the passenger’s seat, before sitting down in the driver’s seat. She fished her phone out of the pocket of her pants, and shot a quick text to Dolls, asking if he was at the station, and if he got five minutes.

Deputy Marshall Dolls: _4sure, what’s up?_

Me **: If I thought that this case I’m working on is somehow connected to a magical kind of bad animal, where would I go looking then?**

Deputy Marshall Dolls: _pine barrens, lost of freaky trees and animals_

Me: **Ok, thanks. Owe you a coffee**

Deputy Marshall Dolls: _np_

Nicole pocketed her phone again, before she turned on the ignition. She briefly thought about calling for backup, but Dolls at least knew where she was heading, and Waverly had her GPS location, so she wasn’t too worried. Besides, she was just out to gather some information, to check if this would lead anywhere new, she wasn’t planning on doing anything rash.

She looked up at the road. And froze, her heart suddenly very loud in her ears. A sort of prickling feeling in her fingers and legs, the rush of blood heavy.

A young child. Curls. Wide, dark eyes almost swallowing his face whole.

Smaller than what he’d been in her dream. A lot more realistic too.

He shook his head slowly. Nicole blinked. He was gone.

Her blood was still rushing in her ears, her heart still pounding in her chest, heavily, trying to move blood and oxygen around as fast as possible. She sat in her car, her eyes fixated on the spot where he’d appeared, in the flesh, real, tangible. Not just a dream, but standing in front of her just moments before.

Nicole needed sleep. This wasn’t happening, not right now, not later, not ever. If she’s beginning to get haunted on top of everything else, she would fricking lose it. This, this was a deal breaker. Her girlfriend being possessed? Manageable. Being bitten by a freaking widow, and still surviving? Fair enough. Dealing with Tucker Gardner, arguably the biggest creep this town had seen in a long time? Better than being haunted! She’d take that any other day if it meant that she wouldn’t have to deal with being haunted by a little boy ghost of some kind. 

She took a slow and steady breath, placing her hands on the steering wheel and clenching her fists, grounding herself to reality bit by bit. She would have to deal with this later, but for now she needed to get going, she could call or go over to Waverly’s place later today. Maybe they could try an exorcism or something. But now she had to move, after going so long without any real threads, she was getting desperate to see if she could try to piece _something_ together.

What she met in the Pine Barrens was almost as unexpected as seeing the boy from her dream in clear daylight. It was a girl, but also a bear, walking near the edge of the forest near to where Nicole ended up parking her cruiser. It was mesmerizing to look at, at how she almost shifted through the phases of the bear and the girl, as if she was as much of a woman as she was a bear, and either of the forms she chose to show would still be connected to the other. Nicole stood by her car for a little while, unsure if she should move closer, or keep her distance. This had to be the skin walker that Dolls and Wynonna had encountered. 

She made up her mind when it seemed like the bear was moving further away, and she realized that she had to take her chance. She made her way from the car, over the short field and to where the trees started to really rise into the sky. The forest here was different, older and weary, but still strong, browner and more callous than green and lush. It felt sincerer, more real, than the forest closer to Purgatory, and more befitting the time of the year. When she felt that she was close enough, she called out after the skin walker, who stopped in its tracks. And suddenly, a young woman stood before her, looking at her a distance away.

Nicole could still see the bear on her, in her eyes, the weight of her gaze, the way the fitted into the forest around her, like a guardian. She was unsure how to proceed, as this was nothing she had done before, but there was no malice in the air, and Nicole felt calm. So she just asked, asked for help, or guidance. Whatever she could get.

“Please,” she said, not breaking eye contact. The girl, Tadewi, stood silent for a while, before she opened her mouth. Her voice was lighter than what Nicole had expected.

“What you’re searching for, is connected to water. I would suggest that you start there,” she said, before flashing a quick smile, and turning on her heel to continue on her way.

“Thank you!” Nicole cupped her hands around her mouth as she called out to Tadewi again, before she jogged back to her cruiser, clumsily fishing her phone up from her pocket. She needed to call Waverly.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This was a fun chapter to write :D  
> If you liked it feel free to leave kudos and comments, it makes my day!!


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